"All You Zombies-" Read Free Page B

that I was accepting his offer to buy me out, to see my lawyer as I was leaving on a long vacation. The Bureau might or might not pick up his payments, but they want things left tidy. I went to the room in the back of the storeroom and forward to 1993.

        2200-VII- 12 Jan 1993-Sub Rockies Annex-HQ Temporal DOL: I checked in with the duty officer and went to my quarters, intending to sleep for a week. I had fetched the bottle we bet (after all, I won it) and took a drink before I wrote my report. It tasted foul, and I wondered why I had ever liked Old Underwear. But it was better than nothing; I don't like to be cold sober, I think too much. But I don't really hit the bottle either; other people have snakes-I have people.    I dictated my report; forty recruitments all okayed by the Psych Bureau - counting my own, which I knew would be okayed. I was here, wasn't I? Then I taped a request for assignment to operations; I was sick of recruiting. I dropped both in the slot and headed for bed.    My eye fell on "The By-Laws of Time, " over my bed:

        Never Do Yesterday What Should Be Done Tomorrow.    If at Last You Do Succeed, Never Try Again.    A Stitch in Time Saves Nine Billion.    A Paradox May Be Paradoctored.    It Is Earlier When You Think.    Ancestors Are Just People.    Even Jove Nods.

        They didn't inspire me the way they had when I was a recruit; thirty subjective-years of time-jumping wears you down. I undressed, and when I got down to the hide I looked at my belly. A Cesarean leaves a big scar, but I'm so hairy now that I don't notice it unless I look for it.    Then I glanced at the ring on my finger.    The Snake That Eats Its Own Tail, Forever and Ever. I know where I came from - but where did all you zombies come from?    I felt a headache coming on, but a headache powder is one thing I do not take. I did once - and you all went away.    So I crawled into bed and whistled out the light.    You aren't really there at all. There isn't anybody but me - Jane - here alone in the dark.    I miss you dreadfully! Last-modified: Fri, 21-Feb-97 18:55:38 GMT